Sat, 23 May 2009

It's not like I needed another Jupiter's moons application.
I've already written more or less the same app for four platforms.

I don't use the Java web version,
Juplet, very much
any more, because I often have Java disabled or missing. And I don't
use my Zaurus any more so
Juplet for Zaurus
isn't very relevant. But I can always call up my
Xlib or PalmOS
Jupiter's moons app if I need to check on those Galilean moons.
They work fine.
Another version would be really pointless. A waste of time.

So it should have been no big deal when, during the course of
explaining to someone the difference between Java and Javascript,
it suddenly occurred to me that it would be awfully easy to
re-implement that Java Juplet web page using Javascript, HTML
and CSS. I mean, a rational person would just say "oh, yeah, I
suppose that's true" and go on with life.

But what I'm trying to say is that programming isn't a career path,
or a hobby, or a field of academic study. It's a disease.
It's a compulsion, where, sometimes, just realizing that
something could be done renders you unable to think about
anything else until you just ... try ... just a few minutes ...
see how well it works ... oh, wow, that really looks a lot better
than the Java version, wouldn't it look even nicer if you just added
in this one other little tweak ... but wait, now it's so close to
working, I bet it wouldn't be all that hard to take the Java class
and turn it into ...

... and before you know it, it's tomorrow and you have something
that's almost a working app, and it's just really a shame to
get that far and not finish it at least to the point where you can
share it.

But then, Javascript and web pages are so easy to work on that it
really isn't that much extra work to add in some features that the
old version didn't have, like an animate button ...

... and your Saturday morning is gone forever, and there's not much
you can do about that, but at least you have a nice
animated Jupiter's moons
(and shadows) page when the sickness passes and you can finally
think about other things.